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A-talking thus,

       Though eyes are bright,

       Is not for us.

       The eve is past,

       The shadows fall,

       And so at last

       Goodnight to all.

       All retire except CADDIE, who is roused from a profound reverie by the misbehaviour of the clock. He makes short work of it. Exit

      CADDIE. There is a knock at the door, and the GIRLS reappear.

      MEG. It was the front door!

      MILLY. Who can be calling at such a fearsomely late hour as nine o’clock?

      ROSE. Why doesn’t some one peep down the stairs.

      BAB runs downstairs.

      MAUD. That bold Bab has gone. Miss Sims will catch her.

      MILLY. Oh! I can see. (Looks over staircase.)

      ALL. Well?

      MILLY. A man!

      ROSE. At last!

      MILLY. Bald!

      ROSE. The wretch!

      MILLY. He has two other men with him.

      MEG. Two! Girls, let us go and do our hair this instant.

      MILLY. They are shewn into Miss Sims’s private room. Ah!

      MAUD. What?

      MILLY. The door is shut.

      ROSE. What a shame!

      MEG. What is Bab doing all this time?

      MILLY. She has her ear at the keyhole.

      MAUD. Dear girl!

      MILLY. She shakes her fist at the keyhole.

      ALL. Why?

      MILLY. I don’t know.

      BAB comes upstairs.

      ROSE. Bab, why did you shake your fist at the keyhole?

      BAB. Because it is stuffed with paper.

      ALL. Oh!

      BAB. Yes, stuffed. How mean of Miss Sims. She might surely have trusted to our honour not to look.

      MILLY. Thank goodness, the holidays begin the day after tomorrow.

      BAB. But a great deal may happen before tomorrow. Girls, can you keep a secret — a secret that will freeze your blood and curl you up and make you die of envy?

      ALL. Yes, yes!

      BAB. That little sneak Jane Annie is not here?

      MILLY. She has gone upstairs to bed.

      BAB. You are sure?

      ROSE. I’ll make sure. (Runs upstairs and looks through keyhole.) It’s all right, girls! I can see her curling her eyelashes with a hairpin.

      GIRLS surround BAB.

      BAB. Then, girls, what do you value most in the world?

      MILLY. My curls.

      MEG. My complexion.

      ROSE. My diamond ring.

      MAUD. My cousin Dick.

      BAB. Well, Meg would be delighted her complexion fair to doff,

       And Milly take her scissors and cut her tresses off,

       And Rose with a careless “Take it” give up her diamond quick,

       And Maud would soon surrender her rights in Cousin Dick,

       To be me tonight!

      MILLY. What is his name?

      BAB. Jack.

      MAUD. A lovely name! What are you and Jack to do?

      JANE ANNIE steals downstairs.

      BAB. This very night we have —

      ALL. You have — ?

      BAB. Arranged to el —

      ALL. To el — (seeing JANE ANNIE.) Oh!

      JANE ANNIE comes forward. All turn their backs on her.

      JANE A. What have you arranged to do tonight, Bab? What is it, Maud? tell me, Milly.

      ROSE. You used to be the worst girl in the school, Jane Annie, and I believe you have become a sneak to win the good-conduct prize.

      MILLY. When it is presented to her tomorrow, I shall hiss.

      JANE A. What is your secret, Bab?

      BAB. Oh, I should like to pinch you!

      JANE A. Just because I am a good girl.

      SONG. — JANE ANNIE.

       I’m not a sneak for praise or pelf,

       But when they’re acting badly,

       I want to make them like myself,

       And so I tell tales gladly.

       Just because I am a good girl.

      ALL. She gives her reasons thus,

       But it’s rather hard on us,

       To suffer just because she is a good girl.

      JANE ANNIE. I told Miss Sims they read in bed,

       Although with guile they cloaked it,

       And when her cane chair vanished,

       I told her they had smoked it,

       And all because I am a good girl.

      ALL. And all because she is a good girl.

      JANE ANNIE. Although misunderstood, I’m meek —

       Bab, pinch me, pinch me well!

      (BAB pinches her.)

      Thanks! Next I offer you my cheek.

      (BAB slaps her.)

      Now, dear, I’ll go and tell.

       And just because I am a good girl.

      ALL. She gives her reasons thus,

       But it’s rather hard on us,

       To suffer just because she is a good girl.

      JANE A. If I liked I could make Bab tell me her secret. Beware!

       I have a power by which, if I chose to use it, I can

       make any one do anything I like.

      MILLY (scoffing). Then why don’t you use it?

      JANE A. Because I am a good girl.

       Exit JANE ANNIE downstairs.

      ROSE. Do you think she has such a power?

      MILLY. Of course not.

      MEG. Still, Jane Annie could not tell a lie.

      MILLY. You mistake. It was George Washington who could not tell a lie.

      MEG. So it was. How stupid of me.

      MAUD. Quick, Bab, your secret?

      ALL. Yes — the secret!

      BAB. Girls, this is my secret. Meg, watch! Jack is a soldier, and he loves me.

      ALL. Oh!

      BAB. But better still — I have two lovers.

      MILLY. Do they hate each other?

      BAB. Yes.

      MILLY. Scrumptious!

      BAB. And, oh girls! I have promised to elope with Jack tonight.

      ALL. Oh! (BAB sighs.)

      ROSE. But why do you sigh?

      BAB.

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